Plastic tote box



Aug. 28, 1956 w, KNIERlEM ETAL 2,760,676

PLASTIC TOTE BOX Filed Nov 1, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 l rroeA/fz Aug 28,1956 A. w. KNIERIEM EAL 25,760,676

PLASTIC TOTE BOX Filed Nov 1, 1955 2 Sheds-Sheet 2 ale/5M,

United States Patent PLASTIC TOTE BOX Arlington W. Knieriem, Pasadena,and Louis C. Folst, Los Angeles, Calif, assiguors to CalresinIndustries, Inc., Los Angeles, Calif, a corporation of CaliforniaApplication November 1, 1955, Serial No. 544,149

2 Claims. (Cl. 220-97) This invention relates to tote boxes and, isparticularly useful in the handling of paper cartons of fresh milk andother dairy products in a plant for processing these products and in thewholesale distribution of the same. The invention disclosed herein is animprovement on the plastic case disclosed in our co-pending application,Serial No. 457,008, filed September 20, 1954.

In spite of the excellent merits of the plastic case shown in ourco-pending application, some difficulty was experienced in substitutingsaid plastic case for the metal bound wood tote boxes formerly used indairy plant operation and in the wholesale distribution of productsproduced therein. This difliculty arose from the character and spacingof the angle iron tracks provided for supporting the tote boxes in thedelivery trucks built. for use with the old style metal-bound woodboxes. These tracks were provided in pairs for supporting opposite endsof the tote boxes and the latter were slid broad-side onto said trackswith the latter extending inwardly under opposite end portions of thebox.

The lowermost portion of the plastic case shown in said co-pendingapplication comprises a rectangular frame which is substantially shorterthan the length. of the adjacent lower portion of the case. This isbecause the lower end portions of reinforcing elements molded in.-tegral with the case and provided at the four corners thereof terminateda substantial distance short of the bottom face of the box. This facttended to cause one end of said bottom rectangular frame of said plasticcase to slip down inside the adjacent rectangular track thereby causingthe case to assume a canted position andto jam, making its removal fromthe truck extremely difficult.

It is an object of the present invention, to provide a plastic tote boxfor which the difiiculty experienced with said plastic case iseliminated without any loss of strength in the box or increase in thecost thereof.

Unless special care was exercised, some tendency was also experienced inthe stacking and unstacking of the plastic cases aforesaid, when thesewere loaded, for one end of the upper case to slip downwardly into thecase immediately therebelow so that the product contained in the lowercase would be damaged.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a plastic totebox having the merits of the aforesaid plastic case but which containsfeatures which tend to prevent the damage to goods from inadvertence asabove men.- tioned.

In particular it is another object of the present invention to provide aplastic tote box which when a plurality of these are being manuallystacked or unstacked, will permit the practice of rocking the uppermostbox about the near bottom edge thereof when assembling this on ordisassembling it relative to the box immediately therebeneath, so thatthe upper box may be slid lengthwise into or out of engagement with thelower box and be guided 'ice when being so moved by the relativeconformation of the adjacent corner edges of the two boxes.

The manner of accomplishing the. foregoing objects as well as furtherobjects and advantages will be made manifest in the followingdescription taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in whichFig. l is a perspective view of three identical plastic tote boxes instacked relation, each of which comprises a preferred embodiment of theinvention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of one of the tote boxes shown in Fig.1 illustrating the relation of the lower end corners of said. box to theangle iron tracks provided in delivery trucks for supporting standardold style, metal bound wood milk cases.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 33 ofFig. l and showing; the manner in which the reinforcing elementsdisposed at the midpoint of the sides of the box terminate at theirlower ends a substantial distance above the bottom face of the boxwhereby said elements may rest upon the upper face of the topreinforcing frame of the box. therebelow while the bottom reinforcingframe of the upper box extends inside said top reinforcing frame of saidbottom box.

Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view of the invention illustrating the manner inwhich the corner vertical reinforcing elements of thebox structureterminate flush with the bottom face of the box, whereas the sideintermediate reinforcing elements terminate at their lower ends abovethe said bottom face of the box. This view also shows, in broken lines,the position of said angle iron tracks relative. to the ends of, saidbox;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary detail elevational view of adjacentcorners. of two boxes in. nested relation as when one box is stackedupon another and illustrates the manner in which the lower end ofeachvertical corner reinforcing element of the upper box fits into oneof four corner recesses providedin. the top rectangular frame of the boxtherebelow thereby permitting the bottom rectangular frame of the upperbox to fit inside the top rectangular frame of the lower box with thefour corner reinforcing elements of the upper box resting directly ontop of and in alignment with. the corresponding reinforce ing elementsof the lower box.

Fig. 6 is a detail sectional view taken on the line, 6-6 of Fig. 5 andillustrates the area of the upper face of a corner vertical reinforcingelement of the lower of two stacked. boxes which is overlapped by thecorresponding reinforcing element of the upper box.

Referring specifically to the drawings the preferred embodiment of theinvention illustrated therein.- comprises a tote box 10. This box isintegrally moldedv of plastic material reinforced by a fibrous material,preferably fibre glass, which in less expensive versions of the box maybe replaced by cotton or other cellulose fibres.

The principle governing the structure of the box 10 is the same as thatof the plastic case disclosed in our copending application abovereferred to. In other words, the box 10v includes a skeletonal' frame11' including a top rectangular perimetric frame 12, a bottom perimetricframe 13, corner upright reinforcing elements 14 which are integrallyunited at their opposite ends with the. corresponding corners of the topperimetric frame 12 and the bottom perimetric frame 13, and intermediateside. upright reinforcing elements 15 which equally divide the sides ofthe box 10 and are also integrally united at their upper and lower endswith the top and. bottom perimetric frames 12 and 13.

Each of the six faces of the box 10 is thus surrounded by a substantialand very strong perimetric frame. It is ments 14 terminate at theirlower ends at the 'bottom'face 16 of the box which is also the bottomface of the bottom reinforcing perimetric frame 13. The intermediateside upright reinforcing elements 15 terminate at their lower ends asubstantial distance above said bottom face 16 and yet a sufficientdistance below the top face 17 of said bottom perimetric frame 13whereby the lower end of each element 15 is integrally joined with thebottom frame 13 by a substantial body of material 18.

Corner portions of the upper perimetric frame 1.2 are deflecteddownwardly into their integral union with the corner elements 14 to formcorner notches 19 in said frame, the bottom face 20 of each of whichcomprises the upper end of the corresponding corner element 14.

Considering just the skeletonal frame 12 alone of the box 10, this veryrigid integral skeleton, when placed on top of another such skeleton,nests therewith in perfectly superimposed stacked relation as shown inFig. l with the bottom perimetric rectangular frame 13 of the upper boxextending inside of the top perimetric frame 12 of the lower box, withthe bottom ends of the upright corner elements 14 of the frame of theupper box resting directly on the top faces 26 of the correspondingcorner elements of the frame of the lower box, and with the bottom facesof the intermediate upright elements 15 of the frame 11 of the upperboxresting directly on the upper edge of the top frame 12 of the lowerbox and in alignment with the corresponding intermediate uprightelements 15 of said lower box.

Formed integral with the top perimetric frame 12, and flush with theinner face thereof, and integral with the bottom perimetric frame 13,and flush with the outer face 26 thereof, are very thin end and sidewalls 27 and 28 which are also integral with and flush with inner facesof upright reinforcing elements 14 and 15. Formed integral with thebottom perimetric frame 13 and flush with the upper surface 17 thereofis a thin box bottom 29. Where drainage from the box 10 is desired aswhere this box is used for handling packaged dairy products, the bottom29 is provided with a series of holes 30. The end walls 27 are providedwith handle holes 31 which are located just below the top perimetricframe 12 so that the latter may be gripped by fingers extended throughsaid holes for the purpose of lifting the box 10.

Besides the tremendous strength and relative lightness of the tote boxof our invention, it has certain specific advantages over all previoustote boxes including that shown in our co-pending application. Prominentamong these is the ability of the box 10 to be employed in trucksequipped with box supporting tracks comprising sections of angle ironwithout the boxes getting canted and jamming between these tracks, whileat the same time nesting perfectly with the other boxes when these arestacked.

Fig. 2 illustrates the manner in which the lower ends of the cornerreinforcing elements 14 of the box 10 forms substantially square cornerswith the bottom face 16 of the box 10 where the ends of this box rest ontracks 41'} which constitute angle irons having vertical flanges 41 andhorizontal flanges 42, each of the latter having an upwardly extendingrail 43 at its inner edge on which the boxes 10- ride when they areintroduced onto the tracks 40. As clearly seen in Fig. 2, a certainamount of clearance is necessary between opposite ends of the box 19 andthe vertical flanges 41 of the tracks 44) but with the square cornersformed by the juncture of the corner reinforcing elements 14 with thebox bottom face 16, the shifting of the box 10 to bring one end of thebox into direct contact with one of the track flanges 41 will not resultin the other end of the box dropping inside the adjacent track rail 43.In other words, the novel feature of extending the corner reinforcingelements 14 downwardly so as to be flush with the bottom 16 of the boxcauses the extended portions of these corner elements to prevent thejamming of the box 10 which was possible with the case shown in ourco-pending application.

Another peculiar advantage resulting from novel characteristicsof thebox 10 is the facility afforded by the notches 19 at the corners of thebox to act as guides for the adjacent bottom corner edge of an upper boxof a stack of the same when this upper box is either being moved intostacked relation with the box therebelow or being removed from suchrelation. The tactic thus made available of handling the boxes 10consists in the person handling such an upper box tilting the sametowards himself and moving the box lengthwise into or from superimposedrelation with the box therebeneath by placing the near intermediateupright element 15 of the upper box on top of the near side portion ofthe top perimetric frame 12 of the lower box and sliding the upper boxhorizontally into or out of proper superimposed relation with the bottombox. It is easy to learn this method whereby the bottom perimetric frame13 of the upper box is guided by the notch 19 directly therebencaththereby facilitating the shifting of one box 10 into or out ofsuperimposed relation with another box disposed therebeneath for thepurpose of forming or breaking down a stack of such boxes. By makingthis maneuver possible the danger of the operator inadvertently allowinga corner portion of an upper box to bear directly downwardly on thepackaged product in the box therebelow and thus damaging this product ispractically eliminated.

The box 10 is manufactured by a plastic molding process between male andfemale molds and under high temperature and pressure. This produces ahigh density in the material of the box and renders the latter resistantto damage by rough handling. To facilitate the drawing of the box fromthe mold all of the surfaces, both interior and exterior, of the box 10are tapered from the top to the bottom of the box.

The claims are:

1. In an integrally molded plastic box, the combination of: a thin shellcomprising a bottom, side walls and end walls, said side and end wallsconverging slightly from top to bottom to permit withdrawal of said caseupwardly from the mold in which it is formed and to permit a lower endportion of said shell of one of said 7 boxes to fit within an upper endportion of the shell of another of said boxes disposed therebelow; arectangular perimetric top reinforcing frame formed by outwardlythickening upper edge portions of said side and end walls; a rectangularperimetric bottom reinforcing frame formed by extending lower edgeportions of said side and end walls below said bottom several times thethickness of said bottom, and inwardly thickening said lower edgeportions of said side and end walls several times the thickness of saidwalls, said bottom reinforcing frame constituting a downward thickeningof perimetric portions of said shell bottom, several times the thicknessof said bottom; and a series of downwardly tapering upright wallreinforcing elements formed by outwardly thickening said shell walls,said upright elements also constituting a downward thickening of saidtop reinforcing frame at the corners of said shell, said elementsthereby reinforcing said side and end walls at their lines of junctureand being integrally united at their opposite ends with said top andbottom reinforcing frame to form in integral skeleton of six rectangularframes, five of which are reinforced in the planes of said rectangularframes by said ends, sides and bottom of said shell, the lower ends ofsaid corner upright elements terminating at the bottom plane of saidbox, and the corner portions of said top reinforcing frame beingdeflected downwardly to form corner recesses whereby the lower ends ofsaid upright elements of one box are adapted to rest on corner portionsof said top reinforcing frame of a box disposed therebelow whileallowing the perimetric hottom reinforcing frame of the upper box toextend a substantial distance within said top reinforcing frame of thelower box.

2. A combination as in claim 1 in which each of the side walls of saidbox is provided with a vertical reinforcing element formed by outwardlythickening said side wall and downwardly thickening correspondingportions of the top perimetric frame, the lower ends of said sidevertical reinforcing elements terminating suificient distances above thebottom plane of said box so that, when one of said boxes is stacked uponanother of said boxes as aforesaid, the lower ends of said sidereinforcing elements of the upper box rest upon the side portions of thetop perimetric frame of the lower of said boxes.

No references cited.

